


You Must Be An Angel

by Minseo Cho (eyaji)



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: AU nobody asked for, Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Not Canon Compliant, Obviously As This Is An AU, The rest of RFA have agent counterparts, magical powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:13:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21693616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eyaji/pseuds/Minseo%20Cho
Summary: [Temporary summary.] Seven didn’t think he could hold a normal job after his old intelligence agency was closed down, so when he was recruited into another low-profile agency, he didn't fight back too hard. For his own sanity, he tried not to overthink what he was doing, opting to be thankful for a job. Even if they were a little strange. Especially that too-beautiful-for-her-own-good executive.
Relationships: 707 | Choi Luciel/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 4





	You Must Be An Angel

Seven Choi didn’t think he could hold a normal job after his old intelligence agency was exposed and closed down. His friend Jumin Han, CEO of a company called C&R, offered a place for his hacking skills, of course. But after many discussions with their friends, he decided he wouldn’t fit in with corporate. What with the politics, the legal paper trail he never used to have, not to mention _Jumin_ being his employer. 

It was a stroke of luck that his former handler had connections in other places, and referred him to another low-profile agency. “He’s a bit of an idiot in most things," Vanderwood had said, "but he’ll be an asset to your team of hackers.”

“VANDY THAT’S THE NICEST THING YOU’VE EVER SAID.”

“I called you an idiot too, don’t ignore that part.”

His first couple of weeks on the job, not a lot of questions were answered. They told him that until he passed probation, a lot of their core business would remain confidential because of just how sensitive it was. Their servers were eerily strict, and their presence as invisible as you’d expect.

He was given a short list of servers and accounts to hack into – sometimes he was given a list of odd keywords to scan for, like “palm reading,” “woman’s heart,” “veil of Isis,” but most of the time he was just asked to turn over access once he had hacked into it.

For his own sanity, he tried not to overthink what he was doing, opting to be thankful for a job. The hours were much better than the old agency anyway, even if he wasn’t allowed to work from home like before, and the less he knew the safer he was. … Right?

He remained guarded for a while, turning on his bright charms and childish humor around his colleagues as a way to assimilate without needing to talk too much about himself.

There was an odd energy there. A lot of people dressed really weird, like they were perpetually in cosplay or costume: long robes with markings and symbols, while some people held charts and scepters. 

He theorized for a while that it was a research company for fantasy mediums? He tested it by babbling on about some of his favorite fantasy novels one time. While people engaged quite enthusiastically, it still seemed too… normal, given all the secrecy.

He was given a new code name: Agent Soros. When it was assigned to him, he was firmly instructed to reveal nothing about his real identity to any of his colleagues. And while this was standard in his line of work, he suddenly had the last thought he ever expected to have. _But what if I meet my soulmate here?_

It must have been the extra time he suddenly had after work, especially the long hours he couldn’t sleep, his body unused to being allowed rest. Fewer distractions meant more room to think about how agonizingly lonely he was. More sleep, however, meant more dreams, and he finally had the strange experience of what his friends spent years describing to him. 

He had a dream whenever his soulmate, whoever they were, had had a big day.

Strong emotions, good or bad. Got a puppy, lost a relative. God, even if they just had a really good steak that day, he would dream about it.

He wondered what dreams his soulmate had about him. His life was in danger literally all the time, and he was riddled with depression and pain almost as much. It was getting worse now, what with all this goddamn time he had and the persistent thought that he would never be with his soulmate anyway. 

First, because his line of work was too dangerous and never let him meet new people. Second, when he finally had a shot at meeting someone new, someone who might be in the same company and therefore likely to be protected from his life, they would never know each other’s real name.

And the only way to confirm your soulmate is to say each other’s name.

 _What a cursed life,_ he grumbled, giving up on sleep and logging online to play a video game with his friend Yoosung.

He got a bit of a strange assignment a couple of months into the job. He was just told to scan for any and all public and private mentions of a “runed treatise.”

Any profiles? Target servers? Parameters?? A time period to search through at least????

“Everything,” said his handler, Agent Aevum, with no expression. “Get creative.”

Creative????? When was he ever hired to be creative? I mean he was, but he was never asked—nay, _allowed_ —to take the bigger strategy into his own hands. He was never hired to _think_ first before—just do.

He started at the main monitor of his hacking unit for a long time before breaking into a sly grin and cracking his knuckles. This was going to be fun.

It was not going fun.

The week was almost over and he hadn’t turned up a single result for the assignment. Broadening the search led him to some vaguely similar keywords in fantasy writing blogs – which he obviously indulged in a little bit – but nothing remarkably matching his goal. Unused to controlling the parameters, he was running out of ways to continue the surveillance. 

He leaned back in frustration and reached for a new pack of Honey Buddha Chips – but came up empty. He looked through his office stash to find that he had ravaged through them during his forty-hour work marathon.

The clock said it was nearing 12 noon and a timely knock sounded on his door. Cobble, one of the agents he had talked up on fantasy novels before, peeked inside. “Hey, Soros. I’m told you’ve never tried the office cafeteria once in your first month. How about we make it a first, eh?”

Seven glanced at his monitor. “Let me leave a code running and I’ll be right there.” He typed in some lines and stepped out of his unit for his first break in five days.

This proved a good idea, first because the cafeteria (free of charge to employees, by the way?? No one thought to tell him in all of his five weeks??) catered some real, filling food. Second, because Cobble lunched with some nice people. No one got his jokes, as always, but they had the decency to laugh politely.

Ah well, they would tire of him soon enough.

Agent Oris, a young, happy-go-lucky, green-eyed boy introduced himself vaguely as a “field specialist.” A stern but courteous brunette, Agent Thera, said she worked in the office of one Agent Iglis, who was an executive.

They were joined shortly by an energetic man in formal, all-white attire. He attracted attention from all directions - whether for his overwhelming attractiveness, his loud personality, or his loud fashion, Seven couldn’t tell. The newcomer posed dramatically and extended a hand towards Seven. 

“You must be Soros,” he declared. “I’m Agent Flair, Field Specialist. You must have heard about me.”

Seven smirked, barely holding back his laughter at this ridiculous energy. “Why, did you do something embarrassing lately? I want to hear it!!”

Flair turned bright red and retracted his head. “What the—What’s wrong with the new guy?” he grumbled.

Thera sighed and pulled a chair back for Flair. “I’m sure Agent Soros must simply be nervous, he is still quite new and this must all be overwhelming.” 

“Hasn’t it been a month?” Oris said innocently, gobbling up some stacked pancakes. “That’s not very short. I’ve completed six assignments already!”

“Well, he barely leaves his hacking unit,” Cobble pointed out. “I’m told you’re quite the workaholic.”

Seven chuckled. “I wouldn’t call it a workaholic, I’m just used to being a slave!”

“We’re a bit familiar with your former employer,” Thera said seriously. “How they closed was quite the scandal among many agencies.”

“Agencies tend to stay under the radar from each other, obviously,” Oris said, “but this one was so huge that we heard about it.” 

“We understand you won’t be comfortable sharing explicit details about it, and we discourage you from doing so to avoid any risks to your safety,” reassured Cobble.

Thera added helpfully, “I’m sure you must also have a lot of questions about our agency. There are many we can’t answer until the owners have declared you trustworthy, but we’re happy to tell you about the people or the office to help your adjustment.”

Seven thought hard. “I do have one important question,” he said seriously.

“Do you want to know about the different clubs?” Oris offered.

“I can give you some tips on office dress code.” Flair eyed Seven’s oversized hoodie with distate.

“Does the cafeteria stock Honey Buddha Chips and PhD. Pepper?” Seven asked.

He tried not to laugh too loudly as Oris choked on his juice box and Thera sighed.

Lunch with the four became a bit more regular. He found it particularly de-stressing to annoy them and had a secret appreciation for how they tolerated his jokes.

They added him into a semi-private (because nothing was ever truly private in their line of work) group chat on the agency’s network so they could chat between work and align on their lunch schedules.

He found himself allowed to talk about some of his work, since they were tenured and probably knew more about where his work was going than he did. They apparently knew little to nothing about the hacking team’s work, for technical reasons.

Thera knew a bit of the information that goes out of it because of her “administrative role,” whatever she meant by that. 

Seven babbled a little bit about his current assignment, which still wasn’t yielding results after six days of testing different targets, parameters and algorithms. Oris had zero clue what he was talking about, Flair had zero interest, and Cobble seemed to understand some of it but mostly engaged with curiosity.

When the weekend rolled around, he voluntarily clocked into work, desperate to avoid the depressing thoughts that accompanied his free time and having nothing better to do than obsess with that uncompleted assignment.

Oris and Cobble, enviably, were preoccupied with non-work life and Flair was at some field assignment or the other. Thera said she would see him there.

Seven was so bored out of his mind that he was taking more breaks than was characteristic of him. He didn’t want to take them, he was forced to by the dead ends. He had enough of these idle hours that he managed a simple code to run some of the scans automatically.

Downside, that gave him even less to do and even more free time.

He pushed away his keyboard with a frustrated grunt and decided to roam the mostly-empty building, his code running the same futile scan obediently.

His old field agent instincts woke up, and he found himself automatically doing recon. He built a mental map of his floor, with all the exits and, with some effort, the most likely spots for hidden CCTV cameras. His probationary access card gave him extremely limited places to go, but he lucked out and found an open-air balcony facing some greenery.

He took a seat on a wicker chair and looked up. Usually, he was more of a starry night sky kind of guy, but as someone who wasn’t even outside that much, he couldn’t complain about the view. As he allowed himself some momentary daydreaming about blue skies and ice cream, he slipped into a light sleep…

_A large but lone Victorian townhouse stood on a low hill._

_The landscape was overgrown, but had charming potential. Some fencing and a part-time gardener… this would be more than enough, Seven thought. But the beauty of it saddened him for some reason. Was this something he was even allowed to have?_

_The grey sky began moving sideways, like someone hit the fast-forward button on the earth’s rotation. The sun set quickly and the sky turned magenta and indigo, bright stars peppered across with the vague silhouettes of distant planets._

_Wouldn’t it be nice, Seven thought sadly, to get married in space and get settled down in time…?_

He jolted awake, feeling like he was being watched.

“Woah, hey, easy, what’s wrong?”

Startled, he toppled over his armrest, away from the voice. He collected himself enough to peek over at the owner of the voice, who was now laughing heartily from the other side of the chair.

“The hell…? Ow!” Seven held the arm he fell on, and the girl’s expression changed completely.

“What’s wrong? Are you injured?”

He winced dramatically – a bit too much, he worried, thinking she might catch on to his prank. But her brow remained curled up as she rose from her kneeling position and moved to inspect his arm. Her face was suddenly so close that he blue-screened at how pretty she was.

“Your shoulder’s fine,” she said, relaxing as she moved away. “Must have been some impact, but you’ll recover quick.”

“Yeah, uh… it doesn’t hurt actually, I was just… joking? I think?” What? Why couldn’t he make up a better reply? Or a lie that would save face??

She looked quizzical for a second before tipping her head to laugh. “You must not make very funny jokes.”

“Woah, woah, woah, woah,” said a very offended Seven. “I felt bad for pranking a stranger, that’s all.” He paused, remembering something. “Though I shouldn’t have been merciful to someone creeping on me while I slept.”

“I was checking if you were dead,” she said without hesitation, and then she smirked. “I wanted your hoodie.”

He clutched his hoodie closer with a mock gasp, making her laugh again.

“Okay, new guy. I guess I’ll give you one chance to prove you’re funny.”

“That’s all I need!” he declared. “Now, since you know I’m a hacker… who do I need to hack to get a name, little cutie?”

“Soros, I’ve been looking for—” Thera’s voice halted as she appeared at the glass doors. “Oh, I see you’ve met Ms. Lunas.”

“Woah,” said Lunas in childlike awe. “You summoned her to reveal my name? How'd you do that?”

“Well, they did call me a wizard in my past lives,” he boasted, enjoying the stroke of luck. “Now, how about a job title? Or a department?”

“You could say I’m from operations,” she said cheerfully.

“You could say she runs operations,” Thera corrected.

“Oops,” Lunas giggled.

Seven blue-screened again. Did he just… “Did I just--?”

“Flirt with an executive? Looks like it! You know, you might be right. You are a little funny.”

Seven turned tomato red. 

Lunas joined them for lunch. The cafeteria service was closed for the weekend, but she had leftover food from a breakfast meeting and insisted they help her finish it.

As she chatted away about her recent trip (which explained why Seven had never so much as seen her in his whole first month), he stole the chance to get a better look at her.

She was a small girl with a softly angular build and unkempt ivory-white hair currently pulled into a bun. She wore very casual clothing: an oversized beige sweater, arms pulled back to the elbows to show black sleeves underneath.

Her green eyes twinkled when she spoke.

She could talk at paces too: rapid-fire for several minutes, and then taking the role of an attentive listener with ease. Hearing her voice made him want to take her to a space station.

“I understand Agent Soros has quite the assignment currently,” Thera said, breaking his trance with his name. “Perhaps, and I hope I don’t overstep on anything, he is missing some context to the assignment that may help.”

Despite Lunas’ cheery nature all afternoon, Thera seemed cautious and formal around her. Was that a Thera thing, or a Lunas thing?

“This is the scan for the treatise, right?” Lunas inquired. “Yes, they told me they assigned that to a new hacker. What seems to be the challenge? You can tell me, don’t worry,” she assured, probably picking up his hesitation at confiding issues to a superior. “Thera is correct. Perhaps there is some context I can offer in small doses.”

“To keep it short, my scans aren’t picking up anything at all. Which is weird, because I’ve tried everything but I’m certain the agency wouldn’t assign me to a dead end?”

“And you’ve turned up nothing for a week?”

“Yeah,” he said sheepishly.

“He did develop some algorithm instead,” Thera said helpfully, but Seven only turned redder.

Lunas looked interested. “What’s the algorithm do?”

“Uhhh, it’s just supposed to automate some of the scans for me. But I didn’t get too far so it’s really just doing this one scan over and… over, sorry,” he finished, feeling his face flush. He couldn’t seem to lie to this girl when she was looking at him like that, and he wished the ground would swallow him up instead.

She smiled. “I can confirm one thing you said, Agent Soros, and it's that the agency wouldn’t assign you to a dead end. You weren’t given a deadline for this, correct?”

“Come to think of it, no.”

“Then maybe you were never expected to turn up results immediately.”

“Oh, that’s… interesting. And new. So like a proactive assignment? And I just… stay glued to this one thing?”

“Whether you stay glued or find a way to take afternoon naps on the balcony—” she sneaked in a giant wink “—is for you to tell me, hacker.”

He bolted out of his chair so very suddenly that Thera spilled her coffee. “I have to go,” was all he said before he ran back into his unit and started typing furiously.

“You built a… bot? To automate the scan?” Agent Aevum wasn’t expecting this news first thing on Monday.

“Three bots, actually, doing a total of twelve different scans. They run different parameters at intervals, then repeat. And then—” Seven pointed to one of the smaller monitors at the edge of the wall. “—It will ping me the second anything is picked up.”

“Is this so you can goof off, the way Vanderwood warned us you might do?”

Seven bit back his impulse to make a joke at Vanderwood’s expense, but something came over him instead. Something about him wanted – needed – this job to work. “No, it’s so I can take on a new assignment while this one runs itself in the background.”

Aevum stared, then smiled. “You’re not too bad, new guy. Vanderwood owes me fifty for that. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off while I process a new assignment for you?” 

Seven welcomed the time to sleep, for once, because he had worked all weekend to finish that code. Besides, he was getting quite attached to his soulmate-related dreams.

_From the outside, the_ kubo _hut looked weather-worn. It had overgrown vines on the roof, crawling inside through the vulnerable windows._

_Inside, the room was rectangular and mostly bare, save for an ornate red rug leading to the farthest window. An ethereal set-up lay underneath the sill, a makeshift altar of gemstones, bowls, bells, incense, and dried fauna in jars._

_Seven was kneeling before the spread, hands clasped. He was praying, he realized, his face was drenched with tears, and his heart bursting with simultaneous gratitude and desperation._

_“Thank you,” he sobbed. “Please… Thank you… Please…”_

Seven wanted to see Lunas the next day, to tell her about his win with the bot's algorithm and how it had won him enough trust to take on more assignments simultaneously. Aevum maintained the level of simplicity but assessed him with questions, asking what other hacking algorithms he might know how to build.

He saw her once, a little more dressed up than the weekend, white hair flowing behind her like a waterfall as she trotted down the hallway with another man. She didn’t join them for lunch, and he didn’t see her again after that. By Friday, he was wired up from the week’s good progress and he was getting impatient to tell her about it.

“So what’s Lunas’ deal?” he blurted out at lunch. “What’s she like?”

Thera sputtered on her coffee and Flair stared at Seven in shock. Oris stammered, “Wha- What- Why are you asking about Lunas?”

“I’m a hacker! I’m naturally curious!”

“I don’t know what you are thinking, Agent Soras, but I will say this just in case. _It is not good for two agents to be involved with one another_.”

“Hey, hey, woah! I never said anything of the kind.”

“I know you, Soras,” Flair grumbled. “You’re a guy, and all guys are wolves.”

“Speak for yourself! Jeez. She just helped me with my work problem last week and I want to thank her properly but I haven’t seen her. She’s unbelievably nice for an executive. I was surprised and curious, that’s all.”

A hush fell over the table, each person now thinking about their interactions with Lunas.

“She _is_ one of the nicest people around here,” Oris admitted, “executive or otherwise.”

“As someone working for an executive,” Thera added, “I must agree. Sometimes Lunas specifically instructs Mr. Iglis to let me have a break.”

“She’s a total sweetheart you can be yourself around,” Flair sighed. “As an exec, I’m sure she’s pretty powerful, but I can’t help but feel protective of her still.”

“Does everyone at this table have a crush on Lunas or something?” Seven joked.

“Don’t say such things,” Thera snapped. “Ms. Lunas is a respectable and important figure in the agency, and I suggest you avoid saying anything scandalous or offensive. I repeat, it is not good for two agents to be involved with one another.”

“Okay, jeez, anyway,” Seven said. He began rattling on about his algorithms instead, knowing for a fact that they would soon space out, and it would be easier for him to hide the strangled sound that had formed in his throat.

The number of assignments was rising, but the difficulty level remained the same. Seven couldn’t believe he was complaining about the lack of challenge.

When he started, he appreciated the considerably slower pace at work. It meant less stress and he felt more like a human being. But he was beginning to get bored with repetitive assignments where he was just hacking and scanning for keywords he was given. He wished he knew what it was being used for, or at least what the words meant…? He was nearing ten weeks at the agency and he still didn’t have a clue what they really did.

Aevum liked the bots Seven built, and encouraged him to write some code that they would add to the network. Some scans, like the one of the treatise assignment, could be automated for everyone else too. He didn’t know if that made him useful, or if that would lead to him being phased out and replaced by a piece of code he built.

He also hadn’t seen Lunas again since that day. But he couldn’t stop himself from scanning every hallway for a glimpse of emerald eyes and icy white hair.

He was daydreaming in his unit about the Victorian townhouse and the shifting sky, when one of his monitors made a very loud screech. He nearly fell off his seat in a panic, scanning every monitor for the source until he reached the very smallest one: the bot scanning mentions of the runed treatise.

The screen blinked a single message: “1 result for ‘RUNED TREATISE’ found.” He stared in shock for a minute before it beeped again, and the number bumped up to “2 results.” Before he could process it, the results began pouring in so rapidly the numbers were now a blur. He stumbled out of his chair and bounded out of his unit to find Aevum.

Seven couldn’t pin down Aevum’s expression as he watched the numbers ticking upward. It had slowed down somewhat but was still increasing every so often.

_376, 377, 378…_

“What does it mean?” Seven asked.

“I don’t think you’re entitled to know that yet,” Aevum huffed.

Seven felt some annoyance, his curiosity going into overdrive. “If I knew what it meant, or what it was for, I might have an idea what to do with it.”

Aevum stared. “What?”

“This is the first assignment where the results only poured in after I started searching. It’s not like I can just send you a list, because it’s changing every second. The IP addresses are all different, the platforms, the parameters…”

His handler seemed to consider it. “What are you proposing? What would be different if you knew the background of this assignment?”

“There are many ways to organize this data, and I don’t think all of them are important. I could… code something that filters out the things that you need, or anything that stands out.” 

Aevum huffed but turned to leave. “Take the rest of today off, Agent Soros, and all of tomorrow too.” He paused at the doorway, not looking back. “I’ll file a request for your assessment while you’re away.”

“That is good news, Soros!” Thera said into the chatroom, after Seven got home and shared the news.

“Long live the lunch chatroom!!” Oris piped in.

“Thanks, guys!!” Seven replied, in several different messages like they hated. “Hacker. God. Soros. Lives another day!!”

“Please talk properly,” Thera complained.

Seven was too excited to tease her. “I wonder if you can talk about your jobs now.”

“Well,” Cobble hesitated. “You technically haven’t passed yet, and nothing is certain.”

“Don’t be so negative!” 

“He is correct, unfortunately,” typed Thera. “While we are hoping for the best, it is still not guaranteed. And we are contractually forbidden from revealing internal information to unregularized persons.”

“We’ll have to kick you out of this chatroom, too, if you don’t make it,” Flair added. “And you’ll be banned from the server.”

“What!!” Seven spammed them with sad emojis, irritating Thera. “You’re worrying me. We’ll have to find other ways to talk?”

“About that…”

“Uh-oh,” was all Oris said.

“What?” Seven asked again.

“Well,” Cobble started, “we’d be forbidden from making contact with you, for security reasons.”

 _Lunas!_ Seven thought immediately, but he stopped himself from typing it into the chatroom. His heart sank. Would he never see her again? Speak to her? What if they fired him over the next two days and he wouldn’t even be able to say goodbye?

He covered his face, everything on his mind suddenly spinning and blurring while her name alone repeated itself.

_Lunas. Lunas? Lunas!_

His phone started ringing loudly, startling him off his seat. He scrambled onto his knees and reached for his phone with no poise whatsoever.

“Hello?” said a familiar voice, sending shooting stars up his stomach. “Soros?”

“ _Lunas?!_ ” 

“Hey, tomato hacker!” 

“Sorry, there is no one here by that name, only a Wizard Genius Se- Soros,” he corrected before he could say his old codename.

“Oh, is that so? I suppose I got the wrong number, I must go and talk to my tomato-haired dork.”

 _Her_ dork? His heart jumped to his throat and seemed to camp there.

“Hello?” she said when he didn’t reply. “Oh well, I will just hang up and be sad I couldn’t find him.”

“What, no, no, no, don’t be sad!” he cried. “And don’t go! You can’t just hack someone’s heart open and leave.” _WHAT? Why did I say that, oh my god._

She laughed in response, and it sounded like church bells ringing very softly. “And why can’t I do that? I’m not a hacker myself so I don’t see the problem!”

“If you must know… It leaves the system open for viruses. Or worse, you leave an opening for someone else to enter!” 

“Oh, and I can’t have that now, can I?” she chuckled. “Fine, I think I can settle for talking to you, so-called Wizard Genius.”

“Hacker God Agent Soros, at your service, Executive Lunas!”

“Oh god, don’t call me that. Except maybe in front of the other executives, I think they’d adore that. Tell me I’m finally owning my authority.” 

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I just don’t want to feel like I’m so high-ranking the other agents can’t approach me. That’s what it feels like when they call me Executive or Ma’am.”

“How about Madame of Operations? Agent Ma’am?”

“God, it’s getting worse.”

“Well, you don’t seem to have better ideas, my princess.” _GAH SEVEN. You could have said princess without the “my.”_

“I kinda like the sound of Princess,” she said with a light laugh. “Empress on special occasions, or simply Queen when I just want to feel nice.”

“As you wish, Queen Lunas, the light of the world.” He tumbled backwards into bed, his heart swelling up as he hoped this phone call would last forever. “And why does the Queen honor a humble wizard with a phone call this afternoon? And where did you get my number?”

“First of all, my throne room is specifically in operations. I don’t need to hack anything to view someone’s records. And second...” She paused for a few seconds, and then continued with a quieter voice. “I expected you at lunch today.”

“Oh.” _She was looking for me!_ “I guess Aevum didn’t make the request, if it hasn't reached you for processing.”

“What request?”

“Ahhhh, I might jinx it.”

“I’m a lucky charm, don’t worry!”

“You sure are,” he said under his breath. Then in a normal voice, “Aevum said he’ll request for an assessment of me for regularization. You know, if I’m worthy to keep working for the Queendom!”

“Oh! Is that what he said? I might not have seen it, I haven’t been to my desk. Wait, I can go look for it right now and make sure it’s processed before you get to work tomorrow.”

“Wait!” His thoughts raced to leave his lips first. _Don’t go! Talk to me more. You really want me to stay at the agency? …You really think it’s more important than the rest of your work?_ “I won’t come in tomorrow,” was what he ended up saying. “Aevum told me not to.”

“That’s okay too!” she replied, to his surprise. “That means you’re free to see me for lunch.”

“??!?!?!?!” was what his mind said, which thankfully didn’t have words that could leave his mouth.

She quickly added, “I need some hacking expertise for a more personal thing. Outside the agency. I’ll pay!” she promised.

 _Oh. She just wants a favor._ His face fell slightly, but he forced himself to focus on being able to see her. Alone. 

“Consider it a freebie,” he replied. “An offering to a goddess.” 

“Ooooooh, it’s escalated to a goddess. I see I've skipped the whole Supreme World Ruler step after empress and headed straight to divinity. Do you think I’m divine, my lowly Wizard Soros?”

He took a deep breath as he tried, and failed, to not answer with the entire truth as he felt it. “I think you are whatever the moon and stars are made of.”

And although it could have been his wild imagination, he absolutely swore that he heard her smiling over the phone.

Lunch the next day couldn’t come any sooner. He was never big on meals, never having the time for them, and right now he cursed that there had to be two whole meals before he could see Lunas.

He had tried going to bed early, hoping to fast-track the time, but found himself unable to sleep. He thought about the terribly awkward things he said to her over the phone, the fact that his guard fell when it came to her and he could barely squeeze out a lie, the feeling that she didn’t really mind – enjoyed it even.

But most importantly, the fact that she returned his humor and his flirtations.

Was he overreading it? Was he hoping, assuming, too much?

“It is not good for two agents to be involved with one another,” Thera had said, something he now realized an executive must know.

…Was she, then, only being nice? Was it just her personality to be like that to everyone?

“Tomato hacker!” The sudden sound of her voice in the café turned all the thoughts into mist. 

Nothing else mattered all of a sudden.

“Can we at least insert the word ‘genius’ in there somewhere?” he grumbled as she slid into the booth next to him. “Lord, Master? Something cool and important, especially after I appointed you Queen!”

She placed a laptop on the table and corrected him sternly, “Goddess, in case you’ve forgotten. And who might you be to appoint monarchs?”

“Perhaps as a wizard, I control the fates of mankind and decided you were worthy to rule!”

“Perhaps a god instead,” she said sweetly, “as I’m the type of goddess who wants a partner.”

He spaced out in her sweetly smiling for just a second, before she interrupted him, “Anyway, Tomato God—” 

“That’s really not what I agreed to…” he pouted.

“Shh, the Queen Goddess is speaking. I didn’t want to ask the other hackers in the agency, but I need—”

She was cut off by the sudden sound and feeling of strong wind. Which wasn't possible inside the diner with all the doors and windows closed. 

Everyone at the café started looking around too, while Lunas started taking deep breaths and clutching the table.

The winds began to twist and converge into a small tornado in the center of the room. Soon it was spitting out black electricity while some formless dark matter appeared at its heart.

Seven swallowed the fear that was building inside him, his instinct screaming to protect Lunas at all costs and until his dying breath.

“We need to leave,” he said to her.

Lunas rose from her seat, but stepped toward the nearest tornado instead.

“Lunas, what are you doing?” he yelled.

She shoved her laptop into his arms in reply. “Hold this, and keep it safe for a minute.”

“Lunas, what—”

He was drowned out by the sound of the café patrons crying in fear and backing away. Lunas quickened her pace toward it and Seven went after her.

The crowd gave way easily as the two headed the opposite way. The dark matter was now taking shape and somehow solidifying, while the swirls of the tornado weakened. 

What formed was a short, crouched creature so deeply black it appeared to be sucking in light from around it. Its head extended into two crooked horns, its arms skinny and drooping at its sides, hands touching the floor. A devilish snarl was coming out of its lips.

Still advancing, Lunas stretched her left arm outward and drew a large circle in the air, her right hand held in a strange pose. Her bag, which she had left back at their table, opened on its own and a series of cards flew out towards her. 

Seven’s mouth gaped open as the cards spread themselves out in the air surrounding Lunas, and remained suspended there like a cylindrical shield. She whipped her left hand into the air again, just as the creature lunged forward. Seven darted forward, desperately reckless, to throw himself in front of Lunas – and felt a half-second gust of wind sweep him backwards instead of an attack. 

When he opened his eyes again, Lunas was kneeling beside him with her left arm stretched forward. A single card was stuck on her palm, facing the enemy, and what appeared to be a violet force field fizzled and moved like electricity around them, blocking the enemy.

With her free hand, she made a signal and another card zipped for the creature. It hissed and snarled in pain as the card sliced past it twice, and it disappeared into black wisps, the turbulent air in the room settling down suddenly.

The cards reorganized and stacked themselves back into Lunas’ hands as she turned to face Seven.

“Lunas, what the hell?!” he yelled without thinking.

“I will explain everything,” she promised, “but right now these people need to forget.”

She folded her hands as if in prayer, and a soft blue bubble grew outwards, filling the room. When it dissipated, everyone in the room blinked in confusion. Mumbling about feeling disoriented and light-headed, they settled back into their seats and tried to remember what they were doing before their memories got blurry. 

“Soros, let’s leave.”

“Ya think?” 

They headed for the agency, where people seemed already abuzz with the news of the attack. Lunas huffed past all exclamations and inquiries thrown at her, dragging Seven, who was still clutching her laptop, behind her. She took him to a part of the building he’d never been to before and sat him down in a meeting room. She marched out without a word. He sat with his panic and confusion for ten whole minutes before a brown-skinned woman with dark, cropped hair entered the room.

“Agent Soros,” she said immediately. “Congratulations. It appears you’ve made it past probation, and just in time to know everything too. Starting with the attack on you and Agent Lunas.”


End file.
